Taming the Anger
by dshadbolt
Summary: The story starts out with Bruce feeling sad over the female laying on the lab floor. The scientist that he blames for it decides to sit down and listen to the story that Bruce has to share. It's a story of a love-hate relationship that went to a whole new level. That level was able to tame the anger that Bruce had built up in him for years upon years.
1. Prologue

A strange feeling came over Bruce. He is use to feeling the rage flow through his veins like liquid fire, but this time it was different. This time he felt something he couldn't quite describe. All of those years of rage and hate seemed to have been replaced by a new feeling. They had the nerve to hurt the only person that stood by him. The one person he truthfully could say was the only person he could trust. All of the years he hated her, but this time it was different. This rage and anger was fueled by a new passion that was hotter than a thousand suns.

"How could you hurt her?," Bruce said yelling at the man he had pressed up against the wall.

Bruce's green hands covered the man's throat and he had no intention of letting go. The man he had up against the wall was the head of the research lab that had help create Bruce into the monster he was. The man was gasping for air and trying to hit the button that would alert the whole lab to Bruce's presence.

"She was bad for you Bruce. She was trying to change into something that you are not meant to be. She was trying to get you to control that anger and force you into a different calling. We couldn't allow that. She had to be dealt with."

"She was my only friend in this whole damn world." Bruce now began pressing harder on the scientist's neck. The only images flowing through Bruce's mind was those countless nights he spent talking to her. He always treated her wrong, and he thought he truly hated her. The truth is he didn't want her to get to close to his heart. However, with her laying on the ground motionless, it looks like it was to late to tell her how he truly felt for her. This enraged him more, but something clicked in his head. He spent the last year working with Ashley on controlling his anger and using it only when he deemed it was really needed. He slowly let go of the scientist and fell to his knees. How did he let her get so close? Why did she stay even when he was destroying everyone around him?

The scientist just stood there looking at the green monster before him. He truly didn't know what to do. He helped create this green monster, but now that green monster was experiencing something they never predicted he would experience. The look in Bruce's eyes told the observant scientist everything he needed to know. Bruce was having a war with his own heart, mind, and soul. John sat down beside Bruce and tried to picture what he was going through.

"Bruce I'm truly sorry. I was only following orders. She was changing you into someone that was deemed to be a threat to our security." Bruce just looked at John when he said this. There was no hate. There was no anger. The only feeling that was being felt was sadness.

John kept on trying to get Bruce to spill his thoughts. He was very intrigued by how someone like Bruce could experience anything other than pure anger.

"Bruce. I know it hurts, but why don't you tell me how you guys met, and what she meant to you." Bruce slowly looked up and John was shocked. Bruce had a single tear forming at the corner of his eye. Bruce thought about the proposition and then silently nodded his head. That's when Bruce started to tell his and _her_ story.


	2. The Experiment

"...His pulse is beginning to return to stable..."

"...begin trying to wake him up..."

"Bruce...Bruce...Can you hear us?" Ashley said as she started to shake the recovering man. Bruce had just undergone his procedure and was still in the medically induced dream world. Dr. John Stimmer walked over to help with trying to wake up Bruce. Slowly Bruce began to come around and he couldn't remember where he was. He thought he could have been in Heaven because looking down at him was the face of angel. Ashley was leaning over him giving him little slaps on the face to bring him around.

"You don't have to do that...I'm awake!" said Bruce as he tried to stand up. However, the medical restraints prevented him from such movement. Bruce glanced around the room trying to piece together his per-procedure memory. He remembered the lab assistant by the name of Ashley and he remembered the doctor that was preparing another bag of saline. However, there was one face he didn't recognize. He didn't want to be rude so he asked her for her name.

"My name is Kalisa. I'm an intern of Dr. John!" She seemed a little to wake awake for this early in the morning.

Bruce continued to look around the room. His head was nothing but fragmented memories that he couldn't seem to piece together. He remembered volunteering for the procedure to test a new serum for the defense department, but after that it's all a blur. He wished he could get up and get something to drink. However, the restraints were holding him in.

"Are these really necessary doc?" Dr. John just walked over to the bed where Bruce was restrained and sat down to do paperwork. The doc was an elderly gentleman about in his 50's. He looked like a typical grandpa with his glasses and overalls on under his lab coat. He had the balding head to go along with his glasses. The only difference about this grandpa was that he held a PhD. in Bio-Chemistry and in Chemical Engineering. Oh he was also contracted by the defense department to build super weapons out of regular humans. Ashley was the chief lab assistant of Dr. John. She couldn't be no more than 25 years-old and still had that innocent look about her. She had redish-brown hair and was a stick figure wise. She was always on the doctor's heels and ready to answer his every wish. Kalisa was the newest face that Bruce didn't remember. She could only be 18 or 19 years-old. She still had that college freshman appearance. She was doing all of the chart recording of the vitals and the quarterly status reports. She always seemed to be smiling and she had to be genius in order to be an intern this early in her life.

"Doc, Can you please remove these restraints? I want to get up."

"In a moment Bruce, we still need to monitor your vitals a couple more times to make sure there is no adverse reactions." John walked over and made sure that the IV pump was enabled and pumping away. Bruce suddenly felt the effects of the saline entering his body. He just laid back his head and relaxed. The droning noise of the pump and the air-conditioning was enough to put him to sleep, but he was tired of sleeping.

"Doctor the vitals are all stable." Ashley said as she walked over and smiled down at Bruce. She has always been interested in Bruce. She always made sure to be the assistant that was assigned to help the doctor with taking care of him. You can say she had a crush on his personality and his looks. However, Bruce would always shut down any advances that she would try to make.

"Okay Ashley you can go ahead and let him get up." The Doctor went over to wash his hands and cautiously watched from a distance. Ashley motioned over to Kalisa to come help with Bruce. Bruce just watched as they slowly removed all of the tape from the tubes and undid the restraints. Kalisa made sure to slowly remove the tape to make sure it hurt Bruce. Ashley had a gentle touch and was careful to not harm him anymore than what she had to. After everything was removed, Bruce was finally able to stand up and consume some water. The water was so cold that it made him shiver from head to toe.

"So Doc...How did the procedure go?" Bruce said. The doctor was just standing there looking at him.

"Well Bruce... you tell me. How do you feel?"

"Well except for the fact I can barely feel my head and I can barely remember anything.. I feel great!" Bruce said with a smile on his face. He decided to try standing up and going over to the doc. He was stood up bracing himself on Ashley and slowly walked over to the sink where John was standing. Ashley smiled the whole way because he was finally letting her help him without being a complete Jackass about it. The doctor just looked over the rim of his glasses at Bruce.

"Well at least you can walk still!" The Doc said jokingly. "Kalisa go ahead and mark that down ." Kalisa made the note and went back to reading about mythology for her next class.

Bruce noticed that the doctor was holding a stack of papers that were a labeled with TESTS on top of them. He knew he had to go through testing to be selected for this procedure, but he didn't know what would happen now that the injection series was complete.

"So what do you have to do now Doc?"

"Well Bruce we need you to do a series of tests to make sure that everything was accepted by your body. If you are able to pass these tests, you will be moved on to the next stage."

Bruce just shook his head yes. Any prospect of being able to get back his life was good enough for him. The Doctor motioned Bruce towards the door and slowly opened it. Bruce went out into the vast white hallway. There was doors on both sides of the hallway. It was packed with scientists, doctors, nurses, and people just like Bruce. The Doctor, Ashley, and Kalisa all walked out behind Bruce and began leading him towards the East end of the hallway. There was a sign that said "Testing Chamber -". Bruce couldn't help but look around at all of the people. It looked like a busy sidewalk in Chicago, but confined to just one hallway. After about three minutes of twists and turns, they finally arrived at the security desk for the testing chamber.

"Welcome to the testing chamber Bruce. This chamber was constructed back in the era of WWII when Steve Rogers came through these very halls." The Doctor said signing his name on the sign in form. Bruce was led to a separate room from the other three. Bruce was led to the actual chamber by several security guards. He kind of had an idea that he had been here before. The room he was put in was very simple. It was dark except for a single light above of a chair in the middle of the room. He could see the silhouettes of the Doc, Ashley, and Kalisa in a window way above the chair. The guards led him to the chair and strapped him down. First they strapped his ankles in and then his arms. They rolled a TV monitor to a spot in front of the chair and turned it on. The Doctor looked at Bruce through the glass and was ready to see if his magical serum would work.

Prior to the experiment being performed, Bruce was subjected to a battery of psychological exams. The Doctors knew exactly what made Bruce tick, and they knew how they could break him.

"Bruce...This test is simple. We need you to just watch the images on the screen and react naturally to them." The Doctor said through the loud speaker. Ashley knew what was going to be done and couldn't watch. Bruce just waited in the chair until images of his family started appearing. He smiled as he remembered his childhood. Those were great times. He was shown more images from his life. He was actually enjoying this test to the point that he was kind of suspicious. The Doctor and Kalisa were making notes of each response. The Doctor then decided it was time to test another response. The monitor started playing a video. The video was a fake home invasion where Bruce's parents were involved. It showed the buglers breaking in, torturing, and killing Bruce's family. Bruce face just went flush. His fists found themselves in a death grip on the arm of the chair. Then more movies started to play showing his friends and relatives all being murdered. After the last video, Bruce couldn't control himself anymore. He kept thrashing in the chair trying to break free of the restraints.

"HOW COULD YOU DO THIS TO ME?" Bruce yelled towards the window. Suddenly, a violent feeling starting to cover his body. He started shaking with rage, and he noticed that he was slowly changing color. The Doctor forced Ashley to help start taking notes and watch Bruce. Her face was nothing but pure pain and disgust. Bruce was shade of dark green and this made him even more angry. What was happening to him? What exactly did they do? His anger was flowing like lava through his veins. The more he thought about those images the more he got angry. He kept lashing back and forth trying to break the restraints. He finally broke the arm restraints and then the ankle restraints. He noticed that his body had almost tripled in size. But he didn't care.

"WHY DID YOU LET THEM KILL MY FAMILY? WHAT DID YOU DO TO ME?" Bruce got angry at how the doctor wasn't responding. He went over to the chair, and started to lift it up. The bolts on the bottom broke away from the floor. The chair was now the perfect throwing projectile. Bruce heaved it towards the glass of the experiment room. The glass shattered into a million pieces. Revealing the Doctor and Kalisa staring with absolute astonishment. However, Ashley's face revealed a different story. Her face was twisting with fear and agony. _Why could they do this to him? _She left out through the door.

"Bruce calm down...It's not what it seems..." The Doctor tried yelling at Bruce, but it didn't do any good. Bruce started pounding against the walls and trying to break down the door. The Doctor decided they had seen enough and pressed a button in the control room. A mist started to fill the room where Bruce was. Bruce realized what they were doing, but it was to late. He fell over and was out cold. The gas was a knock out agent designed especially for Bruce. There was nothing he could do.

"Well he should be out for about eight hours...Kalisa go ahead and have them remove him to this recovery room." The doctor left with great haste. His experiment finally proved to be a success. Bruce was the ultimate weapon, and they could easily trigger his powers. He had to rush to his bosses to relay the good news. Kalisa just looked down at the limp body of Bruce and chuckled to herself.

O^O^O^O^O^O^O^O^

Ashley was pacing on the roof of the building. She couldn't believe that she had been part of this. She questioned what she really believed in, and what she should do. These experiments on Bruce were wrong. This whole damn process was wrong. She took out her cell-phone, and dialed an old friend that would be able to help her clear her mind.

"Yeah Tony... Do you have time to talk?" She said looking towards the sunset.


	3. A New Arrival

After eight hours later, Bruce finally came back around to a somewhat awake state. He laid in his chamber wondering what the hell happened to him. He remembered being taken to the test chamber, but after that his brain was drawing a complete blank. Suddenly, there was knocking at his door.

"Who is it?" Bruce said as he tried sitting up. His body was still numb from the gas and he could barely form his words.

"It's Ashley and Kalisa" said a nice calm voice. The door slowly squeaked open and Ashley walked in with Kalisa following right behind. Ashley stopped shortly after opening the door. She was completely taken back at how bad Bruce looked sitting on the edge of his bed. Ashley slowly approached him and gently touched his shoulder.

"Are you feeling alright?"

"Well I'm definitely not feeling anymore pain if that is what you mean..."

"Kalisa go ahead and start taking his vitals." Ashley ordered as she began to wet a rag in the sink. She slowly cleaned Bruces face and his arm. Bruce didn't even notice how slow and safe she was being with the rag.

"His vitals are all stable for someone who nearly destroyed the whole test chamber" Kalisa said in some sort of short attitude. She has always been one to be rather caring and sweet, but she also has the unmistakeable attitude. Ashley just nodded and motioned for Kalisa to leave the room. The door slowly closed behind Kalisa and it was only Ashley and Bruce left in his room.

"Bruce we need to get you up and moving."

"I really don't feel like moving that much there smart one."

"Well if we don't get you moving the doc will make you move, and I really don't think I could stand that again."

"Why is he doing this to me?" Bruce was still so confused about how and why the doctor was treating him like some lab rat.

Ashley just sat on the edge of the bed by Bruce and laid her hand on his arm. She knew that the doctor was after his own personal goals and would be willing to sacrafice Bruce to meet those goals. The only thing she could do was to call for help from an old friend she at college once. Tony Stark was the only guy Ashley could call on to help move Bruce out of the lab without alerting the doctor. Ashley just thought that he should have been there by now.

"I'll be right back Bruce." She got up and opened the door. She made a left down the hallway and finally spotted Tony. He was leaving the cleaning area with Kalisa. Kalisa was hot, sweat, and her hair was all messed up. Tony was just smiling and then he spotted Ashley.

"Hey Ash! What's up?" Tony ran over to her. Ashley hated this man's guts, but it would be the only safe way to help Bruce.

"He is still in his room. We need to get him out of here tonight. The doc is planning on doing more tests tomorrow and I don't think he'll make it."

"Alright well we need to wait until night time before trying to get him out of here." Tony winked over at Kalisa who was still trying to return to a normal state of breathing.

"Alright you will stay in my quarters tonight until it's night time." Ashley said. She knew Kalisa wanted to have Tony stay with her, but she wasn't going to allow that to happen. Tony is great at ruining lives, and Kalisa was to young to be hooking up with him anyways.

The doctor was at his desk taking notes and smiling at the same time. He finally found the perfect weapon. One that was super-human, and could be triggered without any trouble at all. Finally after all of these years of failing and being laughed at. The disappointing reviews from his peers would finally stop. He was the superior doctor. There was nothing that would stop him now from achieving the final goal. Tomorrow he would see just how far he could push Bruce. No matter what.

**AN: Okay I know this is short. But I am working on the longest one yet tonight. Stay Tuned :)**


	4. The Moment of Freedom and Despair

_ The medical facility seemed to take on a completely new personality at night. The once bustling halls were now empty shells to support the roof. The halls were empty and silent. The only sound you could hear was the distant hum of the air-conditioning units. Some nights you could hear the late night oil being burned by scientist sitting at his laptop. This night was one those nights in which the John was trying to finish his reports to present to his bosses the very next morning. Little did he know that he wasn't the only one keeping late hours on this night . . . ._

"Kalisa do think this plan will work?" Bruce asked as she was helping him get dressed. Kalisa has always had a crush on Bruce. Who could resist? When he came to the institute, he was charming, bright, funny, and quite the stud. These were the things that she adored and craved for in a man. Bruce was still a little unsteady on his feet, and quite frankly he still didn't know where he was.

"It will if Ashley and Stark don't end up going into a bed for late night hour's fun. That Stark guy seems to quite good at making clothes fall off the body…" Kalisa trailed off almost as if thinking about the thought. She helped Bruce slip into a pair of standard issue tennis shoes and began giving him some medication to help subdue his dizziness. That's when there was a gentle rasp on the door.

"Come in!" Bruce whispered.

Tony Stark wondered in with Ashley in tail. Tony was dressed in his typical suit and was of course throwing his smile around towards Kalisa. Ashley was dressed in a track outfit to help be more comfortable. Tonight's goal is simple. The goal is to move Bruce from this facility before he could be harmed or used for evil.

"How is he doing K?" Ashley said while looking at Bruce's charts. She still wasn't sure from the medical standpoint if Bruce was safe to move, especially seeing that they would need to sneak him out of a secure government facility.

"He's definitely doing better than he was earlier."

"Alright Bruce, can you stand up and follow us out of the door?" Tony asked. Tony kept looking at his watch wondering if they would be able to pull this off. Bruce slowly rose up from the edge of the bed. His mind was still on cloud nine. He started walking towards the door, and slowly felt his body to begin working with him again. Ashley and Kalisa both smiled as they followed him outside of the door.

Tony glanced around the hallways. The only light was coming from the fluorescent bulbs that lit up the hallway. The group slowly wondered down the corridors. They stopped at every corner to wait for the cameras to sway to the other direction, and they waited for the occasional doctor or guard to finish walking by. Bruce started to feel like his old self again. He started to finally piece together where he was. He soon realized that Ashley was holding on to his hands and guiding him with a gentle touch. Kalisa was of course hanging by Stark. They finally made it the front of the complex. Stark had already contacted a guard that helped them break out Captain America earlier. This guard was at the main door waiting for them.

Tony turned the corner to see his friend. They just nodded at each other, and the guard opened the door. Bruce was finally outside. The cold damp night air was almost intoxicating to him. He suddenly felt like he was a human being again.

"How are you feeling Bruce?" Ashley asked. She was still nervous about this plan. She knew they just did the easy part. Now they would have to escape the grounds before the guards did their morning roll call. The clock was clicking.

"Yeah I'm fine…. I'm just not use to this feeling,"

"Yeah I love the night time…you can have so much fun at night!" Kalisa chimed in while sort of glancing towards Tony.

"Yes you can…" Tony said with a special wink. He started leading the group towards his truck. They were almost all in the truck when they heard the one thing they were hoping not to hear come from the silent medical complex. Deep inside the building you could hear yelling and a loud piercing noise of an alarm tone.

The office was a dark, quiet, and cold place especially when you were in the office by yourself at 4am. John was sitting at the computer looking at the computer screen almost as if he was just on auto-pilot and typing his reports. He was one that was used to burning the midnight oil to get a report or two done, but this time was different. He couldn't help but to smile a little as he typed this report. He finally caught the break of a lifetime. He took an ordinary citizen, and transformed him into a powerful beast that could be triggered at will.

He finally finished the paragraph he was working on. He popped his knuckles in satisfaction and looked at the picture of his family that was on his desk. He cracked a smile and released a sigh of relief. In just a few hours, his name would be up in lights. He got up to make himself some coffee when he heard a knock at the door. It was just night guard asking permission to begin the nightly head count. John went ahead and gave the okay. He couldn't think about anything else except about what he would name his lecture circuit.

A few minutes passed by, and John was just finishing packing up for the night. That's when the guard came running into his office.

"Sir! We have a major problem!" The guard was out of breath.

"Well what is it boy?"

"Subject #6969 is missing from his cell." The guard said looking at John. John knew exactly whose number that was. He just stood in silence for a minute and then dashed for the hallway. This couldn't be happening. The presentation was just over four hours away. This was his time. John finally arrived at the room and saw that it was true. Bruce was missing. He yelled for the guard to sound an alert and to stop all traffic leaving. The guards and staff started running around securing the doors. John just fell onto Bruce's bed. Everything was running in slow motion. This couldn't be happening to him. Bruce was his possession.


End file.
